Please remember when you are counting your blessings to add yourself to your ‘to be grateful for’ list.

This is an invitation to add yourself, your: essence energy; heart-light; natural and learned skills and talents; physical beauty, to your gratitude list.

When you are counting your blessings, may you remember to add yourself to your ‘to be grateful for’ list.

If you are a heart-centered person (and you most likely are, because this blog is a heart-centered space and here you are reading it) then sharing gratitude is probably quite familiar to you.

I bet you have even learned how to share genuine gratitude for people you don’t necessarily enjoy, even people who have hurt you – because you understand at base, that connecting with their energy, and knowing them, is a blessing (whatever message their presence brings into your life can be used as an invitation to open your heart to understand, work with and heal something within).

But, when it comes to turning gratitude inward, you most likely either don’t think about it (so you don’t do it) or you withhold gratitude due to self-judgment or self-expectation.

Sometimes, potential barriers such as ‘unworthiness’ and ‘undeserving’ arise so you stop considering your inner being at all (except when you are criticizing yourself).

*And*, sometimes, you are more likely to berate yourself for the one thing you didn’t do or complete in a day, instead of thank yourself for the thirty that you did.

If any of this feels true for you, then please thank yourself for your awareness and perhaps open to the idea of thanking yourself for being you.

It might also be that you enjoy turning gratitude inward – it’s easy, comfortable and fun for you. If this is you, please thank yourself for your practice!

A Gratitude Blessing I Use When Thanking Myself for Being Me

Turning gratitude inward is a fairly new practice for me – I’ve only been doing it for a few years. It still requires lots of intentional thought and awareness to remember and then to open to feel comfortable, peaceful and joyful as I share my words and receive the energy in.

I do believe and practice that when we share gratitude, it’s more resonant if it’s genuine.

If you’re in a space in life where you feel you’ve made mistakes or you are in pain or feeling limited in any way, you might not immediately feel gratitude for your inner essence or being. That’s okay, don’t force it. Perhaps center into love, wrap that love around your being and thank yourself for something you chose in the day that made a difference in how the day felt and/or how you felt in it.

If you’re in a space in life where turning gratitude inward feels easy and fun, please share as much gratitude as wishes to flow – you can’t share ‘too much’, it’s all perfect!

Either way, please make sure to thank yourself for considering the idea of turning gratitude inward and for making the choice to share to whatever degree you did.

Here is an example of what a gratitude blessing I share with myself might sound and feel like:

I call myself by name, to make it personal and to bring the energy into my physical realm of being.

I center, do a few deep, cleansing breaths, then put my hand over my heart and I say something like:

*Thank you, Joy for being you.

Thank you for your heart-smile which lights the room. Thank you for the ways you chose to amplify that heart smile today (then I list whatever specific practices I did, like meditate, journal, walk at the beach, write, laugh, etc.)

Thank you for learning (I list whatever I specifically opened to learn today) with ease and joy. Thank you for opening your heart to learn. Thank you for celebrating your learning.

Thank you for honoring your heart energy and energetic intention with boundary work. I know it was (easy or tough – whatever it was in that day) and I thank you for doing the work to understand the importance of boundaries and of resonance and alignment in your connections and the spaces you choose to be present.

Thank you for choosing to celebrate your steps today. (Then, I might specifically list the steps I chose to celebrate).

Thank you for choosing to be love, for choosing to open to receive love in – in all of the forms it was placed. Thank you for choosing to center into, collaborate with and celebrate love. Thank you for being heart-centered and choosing to walk this heart-centered path.

Thank you for your empathic, intuitive ways and for sharing your skills with yourself and with others in ways you were called to.

Thank you for tapping into flow and creating, for unfolding with joy and for resting your body and refreshing your energy throughout the day so you could be fully present to tapping into flow and unfolding.

Thank you, physical being and body for moving me through the day (I might list what specific movements I did). I appreciate all that you do naturally, without me thinking about it. And, I might also list what I appreciate about my physical looks that day (usually my eyes, hair or legs).

Thank you for being you, Joy – I appreciate you and I love you for who you were, who you are and who are becoming.*

As you can see from the words I use:

I open and close with gratitude – it’s kind of an energetic ‘wrapping’.

I specifically address what was true for me today.

I speak to areas I might feel vulnerable in – like being heart-centered, empathic and intuitive.

I include my physical body *and* energetic being to recognize and amplify whole-body connectedness and wellness.

I invite you to feel into my words (and my practice) and to try it with yourself, using words that feel comfortable and true to you, in regards to you. Please remember to keep your practice simple and fun – the idea is to increase peace and joy (not take away from it by over-thinking or complicating this practice).

The Benefits of Turning Gratitude Inward

I am sure you are aware of the power of gratitude, in general. Gratitude is a naturally heart-healing, heart-opening, energy-refreshing energy.

By focusing on what is ‘right and good’ about our selves, we are, in essence, celebrating, appreciating and amplifying what is ‘right and good’ about our selves.

(Not that we are judging any part of our selves as ‘not right or not good’ but sometimes people are critical and judgmental of their inner and physical beings. Sharing gratitude shifts your focus from that judgment to love and compassion.)

As we move through each day, we share our presence with our selves, sometimes source, others and world in a myriad of ways. We often do this without external validation or appreciation but we sometimes feel drained or un-appreciated instead of fulfilled and supported.

Turning gratitude inward meets that base need of wanting to receive in love and of knowing what you shared mattered.

Energetically, we attract like-energy into our space; when we have a consistent practice of turning gratitude inward, we draw into our space people who appreciate who we are, our way of being and what we choose to share as well as people who encourage, support and inspire us to continue connecting and creating from this foundation. We draw into our space people who appreciate who they are (from a love-based perspective) which means when we relate, it’s complementary – usually meaning it’s easy, fun, fulfilling, peaceful, joyful.

(This also means we are less likely to draw into our space people who criticize, judge or ask us to change – and if we do, it’s easy to say ‘no, thank you’ and not become energetically entangled.)

Dear Reader: I’m not here to convince you that you are worth celebrating, but if your heart says ‘yes, please’ (even if your mind says ‘what the heck’) please do try this practice and share your experience in the comment section below. And, if you have a question about this practice, please do ask.

Joy, I love this practice! It is so deceptively simple and yet profound in how it affects my life… Just taking a moment to breathe and thank myself (in ways that feel genuine to me) has just totally transformed the feel of my day :-) xxx

Welcome to Facets of Joy

It is my intention that each time you visit this site (which is my heart space on the web) you feel:

*inspired to connect with and celebrate Source energy,

*delighted to create and to share your creative expressions,

*refreshed, energized, jazzed about life and the 'goodness' of people,

*excited to live infinite possibility in daily life

*encouraged to love fully as you explore your heart path, with ease, joy and abundance.

My email is joy@facetsofjoy.com - please do connect with me!

Let me know how you feel about an article or practice I have shared, about an experience in life you are stuck or celebrating or if you have a question or a request for a practice you would like me to share.

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